"When You Tell Me That You Love Me" is a 1991 song, written by Albert Hammond and John Bettis, and released as a single by American soul singer Diana Ross. The song was subsequently covered by various artists. "When You Tell Me That You Love Me" was the lead single from Diana Ross's 1991 album The Force Behind the Power released on the Motown label in the US and by EMI in the UK. The song, a sentimental ballad, was the album's biggest hit, peaking at number thirty-seven on the US BillboardR&B singles chart while peaking at number-two on the UK Singles Chart. Ross considers it one of her signature songs. The UK release included her 1985 hit "Chain Reaction". It missed the UK Christmas number one spot for 1991 by a couple of hundred units, beaten out by the re-release of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" commemorating the passing of lead singer, Freddie Mercury. The single was awarded a Silver Disc for UK sales exceeding 200,000 copies.
Music video
The single's music video featured scenes of Ross in an evening gown singing on stage intercut with home video footage of Ross with her two sons Ross & Evan.
Personnel
Diana Ross: lead vocals
Robbie Buchanan: keyboards
Michael Landau: guitar
Freddie Washington: bass
Carlos Vega: drums
Michael Fisher: percussion
David Campbell: BV arrangements, orchestra arrangements and conductor
The song was recorded in a duet form by Dolly Parton and Julio Iglesias for the latter's 1994 album Crazy. A single was released in 1994 which managed to chart in the Netherlands for three weeks: entering at position 48, peaking at 45, and in its final week charting at number 49. Parton included this song on her 4-disc compilation box set, The Tour Collection.
Music video
A music video was directed by John Hopgood, and was filmed for the single at Oheka Castle on Long Island's north shore. The sepia-toned clip features Iglesias and Parton singing in separate rooms and a love scene involving a younger couple. At the end of the video Parton and Iglesias are shown leaving the castle. Parton having changed from a white nightgown into a black cocktail dress.
Chart performance
With CoCo Lee
In 1998, Iglesias re-recorded the duet with Chinese singer Coco Lee and released it as a single to promote his compilation . Despite this, CoCo Lee's version was not included on the actual album, but rather Parton's. A music video was released featuring Iglesias and Lee singing together in a recording studio intercut with scenes of Lee walking around in a trench coat. At the end of the video Iglesias and Lee sit down to a candlelit dinner.
"When You Tell Me That You Love Me" is the second single released from Westlife's sixth studio album, Face to Face. It features vocals from original artist Diana Ross. The single peaked at No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart, just losing out on the top spot by a mere 171 copies. The song was the 39th best selling single of 2005 in the UK. It debuted with 40,708 combined physical and download sales in the UK alone. The single reached 120 000 copies sold in UK so far. This single marked its fourteenth year since the original Diana Ross version was released and peaked at No. 2, the same chart position in the UK Singles Chart in 1991. It missed becoming the Christmas Single for 2005 by just 170 units, as had happened to the original. It also peaked at No. 2 in Ireland and Scotland. It is the band's nineteenth best selling single in paid-for sales category and in best selling single combined sales category in the United Kingdom as of January 2019.
Music video
The video features Westlife and Ross singing on a stage together. The members of Westlife are wearing dark suits whilst Ross wears a long white dress and later in the video, a gold dress. New excerpts from the music video with Ross, that didn't make the cut on the official video, was used on television performances by the band of the song for the premiere promotional release week of it as a single.
The 12 American Idol finalists - Season 4 Finalists got together perform this song. It was selected as the American Red CrossDisaster Relief Single in 2005 for the American Idol TV show. It also appears on the compilation album.
